Monday, March 16, 2015

Gokigenyou! This is my review of Go Princess Precure episode 7 and it is the ball games sports meet!

No 3: Haruka's Tennis Training Montage!

After being ridiculed by her classmate and former childhood bully, Aihara Yuki, Haruka asked Miss Shamour to teach her how to play tennis. What followed was a training montage of Haruka learning the basics of tennis and even Minami and Kirara dropped by to help her out.

We also get to see Shamour in her human form with cat ears and tails intact. However the training itself is similar to many anime series where a character go through a training montage and one of the tropes is running on the beach with a tire tied to your waist which I wonder does it really work in real life?

No 2: Meet Aihara Yuki-Haruka's Childhood Trauma.

For the Sports meet, Haruka got to partner with Aihara Yuki who is a star player in the tennis club. He was initially shocked to learn that Haruka has no experience in tennis. But when Haruka and him spoke something that sparked back their childhood memories (Trauma), they realised they were once in the same kindergarten. Furthermore, Yuki still teased her for wanting to become a Hana no Princess (Flower Princess) all these years.

Later Yuki told Haruka that he took tennis very seriously since we later find out his dream is to win the Grand Slam and even trained hard after school. He even told Haruka that he can handle the actual match without her which got Haruka more determined to prove him wrong.

No 1: Cure Flora protect Yuki's dreams!

Flower Punch!!!

As expected, Yuki got turned into a Zetsuborg by Shut when he interfered the match. Cure Flora even use her tennis racket to counter the shots by the Zetsuborg and it worked thanks to her training. Cure Mermaid and Cure Twinkle came in late to aid Cure Flora and didn't do much other then tripping the Zetsuborg by it's own net and Cure Flora dealt the finishing blow.

But the interesting part is after Cure Flora freed Yuki and placed him on the grass. He mistakenly think that Cure Flora is the Flower Princess and had a little crash on her before losing conscious. Later he had a different view on Haruka's tennis skills but still teased her that she had a long way (500 hundred years to be exact) to become a Princess. She returned his reply by smacking a tennis ball onto his back.

Overall, I give this episode a C. It felt that this episode is a filler since it dealt with Haruka trying to prove to Yuki that she can be a Princess. I am glad that Yuki didn't turn out to be a mean person since he now focus on being a professional tennis player and has no time for petty moments. (But if he did behave like a bully, Haruka will be traumatised all over again)

Yuki is voiced by Atsushi Abe who did Touma from A Certain Magical Index and whether will he reappear again in a future episode? Precure series has a habit of dumping off male characters to the sidelines. The only exception is Seiji, Fan Fan and Blue from Happiness Charge since they are regulars in the series. Last season we even have Uchiyama Kouki who did Yuya and he only appear in two episodes and was never mention again. If Toei want a breakthrough, they should develop Haruka and Yuki's relationship further and bring in Kanata into the mix to have some interesting conflicts. I am pretty sure viewers will want Precure to have some mature themes rather than the usual "bubble gum" stuffs.

Other than seeing Minami and Kirara playing soccer and basketball respectively, the whole episode isn't really impressing. But seeing Haruka and Yuki still arguing each other at the end, perhaps opposite attracts and Yuki had a crush on Cure Flora. I am sure Haruka will want to reveal her secret identify someday to prove him wrong. I can't wait to see the look at Yuki's face if that happen.

Next episode is again another Haruka centered episode with her making a gown. I am thinking why the focus is on Haruka rather than the other two is perhaps both of them are perfect in their own ways and Haruka is like light years away to even reach their level. So in a nutshell, Haruka is like the under dog who has to work her way up and that's something I always like to cheer on for. Until then, see you next week!

Mana and her Harem...(Sigh)

P.S: We got more footage of the All Stars movies and I always like seeing Cure Black and Cure White kicking ass and Erika being Erika. Love that family reunion hug with Ako and her family!

8 comments:

Hehehe... so this is the "Prince of Tennis" of the Precure universe, Aihara Yuki tagging along with "Princess of Tennis"(I'm not sure that's the right call for her,though?) Haruno Haruka and constant bickering simmering already xD! I'm already looking forward that one day Kanata and Yuki will duel to win Haruka's affection (too bad, daddy of Haruka, your girl's a bud ready to bloom and you'll have no chance to witness that two-men-fought-for-your-girl scenario, and good luck having a good son-in-law XD) !

And....wow! Ako's finally reunited with her family alongside her Suite team mates (it's been several years already since I last watched Suite Precure) and Mana still having tone-deaf (eerie singing again:P) in the latest preview of the upcoming All Stars movie! Next episode, Haruka making (or knitting) a dress? Wish it's didn't turned out pedestrian...

"[...] running on the beach with a tire tied to your waist which I wonder does it really work in real life?"Well, I suppose that is technically resistance training, so it probably would. Not the most efficient way to do so, though, I'd imagine.